White House Announces Tech Company Efforts To Combat Violent Extremism
The White House announced Thursday that major companies will implement a series of new policies and tools to combat the spread of extremism on their websites.
Major social media services including YouTube, Twitch, Microsoft and Facebook parent Meta have announced a new White House initiative to coordinate hate-based crackdowns to limit the spread of hate speech. Advertisers are under increasing pressure on companies to reduce the role their services play in highlighting hate speech, especially after the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, where the shooters had a history of online hate speech.
YouTube will update its policies to remove actions that glorify videos to incite others or raise money, even if the creators are not affiliated with terrorist groups. Amazon-owned Twitch will soon introduce new tools to help its creators improve security and limit harassment on their channels. And Microsoft is launching an online safety course for students and families about the popular Minecraft game.
be creative
The Boston Globe's technology journalists cover the region's technology and innovation industries, highlighting key players, trends and why they matter.
Political pressure is mounting on President Biden and Vice President Harris to follow through on campaign promises to examine the link between social media and violence. On Thursday, Biden reiterated his call for Congress to "fundamentally overhaul" Section 230, the legal shield that protects tech companies from lawsuits by others who share photos, videos and their services. He is expected to support the creation of transparency standards that would allow investigators and the public to see behind the scenes of social media companies.
Biden and Harris said the tech industry must "take responsibility" for the role its services play in fueling violent extremism, according to the website for Thursday's meeting.
The barrage of ads has put tech companies under increasing scrutiny for their role in promoting hate and violence. The House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol is investigating social media companies and talking to current and former employees to determine what role technology played in the attack.
However, Democrats' ability to introduce new policies that address these concerns is limited by the current Congress, which has a 50-50 Senate majority over Harris. Republicans have mixed views about social media companies' content moderation practices, arguing that the companies upload too much content.
In the absence of congressional action, lawmakers and advocates have relied on public pressure to force companies to change their own policies. Companies will announce measures to raise public awareness of such ideologies and better investigate extremism. YouTube will initially launch a campaign in the US to help young people identify online scams. META will begin a collaboration with the Middlebury Institute for International Studies on Terrorism, Extremism and Counter-Terrorism to examine emerging trends in extremism.
Thursday's meeting revolved around another recent White House job. In June, Harris announced a new task force to study and develop policy recommendations to address online violence.
